HOUSTON, Dec 6 (Reuters) - The body of U.S. President George H.W. Bush arrived by train at his presidential library in College Station, Texas, on Thursday to be buried following a funeral at a Houston church where he was remembered by family members who knew him best as "Gampy."
Bush's casket was carried to his grave behind his presidential library by a military honor guard, while a squadron of Navy aircraft did a flyover, in a ceremony overseen by his son and former President George W. Bush.
Bush, the 41st U.S. president, died last week in Texas at 94. His remains were flown to Texas on Wednesday following a state funeral at the Washington National Cathedral attended by President Donald Trump, the four living former presidents and foreign leaders.
Thursday's funeral service was held at St. Martin's Episcopal Church in Houston, where Bush and former first lady Barbara Bush worshipped for more five decades, and took on a more personal tone with remarks by family members.
George W. Bush, who followed his father to the White House, sat in a front pew near the flag-draped casket and joined in as some 1,000 mourners sang "America the Beautiful."
George P. Bush, son of former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and one of the former president's 17 grandchildren, remembered fly fishing and sharing ice cream with the man he called "Gampy."
James Baker, a longtime friend who served as Bush's secretary of state, eulogized the former president as a peacemaker and "a truly beautiful human being."
"He was not considered a skilled speaker, but his deeds were quite eloquent and he demonstrated their eloquence by carving them into the hard granite of history," Baker said.
Mourners laughed as Baker recalled how Bush would let him know a conversation was over: "'Baker, if you're so smart, why am I president and you're not?'" His voice cracking at moments, Baker said he was at his friend's deathbed last week.
Raised in an Episcopalian family in Massachusetts, Bush fused his preppy New England background with the more free-wheeling traits of his adoptive state of Texas, where he moved as a young man to work in the oil industry.
That mix was reflected in the music heard at his funeral: the St. Martin's Parish Choir sang "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," country music star Reba McEntire performed "The Lord's Prayer," and the casket was carried out of the church to the thunderous strains of "Onward Christian Soldiers."

Republican senatorial candidate George Bush shows a victory sign as he and his wife Barbara stand in front of a vote machine Nov. 3, 1964 in Houston, Tex., just before casting their ballot. The candidate waited an hour and a half in a long line of voters that circled the Pilgrim Elementary School.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations George Bush raises his hand signaling a veto vote to block a call on Israel to stop reprisal raids in the Middle East following the murder of Israeli Olympic athletes, Sept. 10, 1972. It was only the second veto by the United States in UN history.

Republican National Committee chairman George Bush, left, sizes up his opponent, Democratic National Committee chairman Robert S. Strauss, during the Circus Saints and Sinners Club luncheon in Washington, March 7, 1974. "Killer" Bush and "Slugger" Strauss donned the gloves for what was billed as the "Battle of the Century."

George H.W. Bush is sworn in as director of the Central Intelligence Agency by Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, left, as Barbara Bush and President Ford, right, look on at CIA headquarters in Langley, Va., on Jan. 30, 1976.

With tears in her eyes Dorothy Bush of Greenwich, Conn., widow of former Senator Prescott Bush, applauds her son, George Bush, during a campaign luncheon on May 1, 1979 in Hartford. The former CIA chief announced his candidacy for the GOP presidential nomination in Washington earlier in the day.

(L-R) Barbara Bush, George H.W. Bush, Ronald Reagan and Nancy Reagan at the 1980 Republican National Convention held in Joe Louis Arena, in Detroit, Mich., from July 14-27, 1980. While a number of Republicans sought the nomination, Reagan captured it on the first ballot.

In this Jan. 20, 1989, file photo, George H.W. Bush raises his right hand as he is sworn into office as the 41st president of the United States by Chief Justice William Rehnquist outside the west front of the Capitol on Jan. 20, 1989. First lady Barbara Bush holds the bible for her husband.

Bush (R) listens to Mother Teresa (L) during a meeting in the White House Oval Office on Dec. 9, 1991 in Washington, DC. Mother Teresa is in Washington to attend the initiation ceremony of new nuns into her order.

The former president walks through a sweet potato field with the unidentified chief (L) of the search team looking for US soldiers missing in action (MIA) during his visit Sept. 7, 1995 at a MIA search site at Dien Hoa, Dien Ban district, Quang Nam-Da Nang province in central Vietnam. Some 50 Vietnamese and a 13-member US team worked on the site looking for the remains of US serviceman killed during the Vietnam War. Bush was on a four-day private visit to Vietnam.

George Bush parachutes onto the grounds of his presidential library at the campus of Texas A & M University in College Station, Texas on June 9, 1999. Bush made the jump in celebration of his 75th birthday.

Former president George Bush, Sr., and his son George W. Bush speak to the press in Kennebunkport, Maine. This June 13, 1999, press conference is early in George W. Bush's campaign for the 2000 United States presidential election.

The Bush family, --(L-R) Texas governor and presidential candidate George W., Florida Gov. Jeb, former U.S. president George and his wife Barbara -- watch play during the Foursomes matches on Sept. 25,1999 in Brookline, Massachusetts, the site of the 33rd Ryder Cup Matches.

Former President George Bush, left, chats with former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, right, as Barbara Bush looks on before Bush was awarded honorary citizenship of Berlin on Nov. 8, 1999. The city of Berlin is celebrating the 10th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, where Bush and Gorbachev played major roles.

Former president George H. W. Bush addresses a crowd of hundreds at the Keel Laying ceremony in his honor on Sept. 6, 2003 in Newport News, Virginia. Bush laid the keel to the aircraft carrier which is named after him.

From left: first lady Laura Bush, President Bush, Queen Elizabeth II, former first lady Barbara Bush, former President George H.W. Bush, and Prince Philip pose for photographs before the start of a dinner on May 8, 2007 in Washington.

Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (L) meets with Former President George H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush at Bush's office on March 29, 2012 in Houston, Texas. Mitt Romney received an endorsement from Former President George H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush during the meeting.

Former New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg looks on as President George H.W. Bush receives an Honorary Doctor of Laws Degree at the Harvard University 363rd Commencement Exercises Ceremony on May 29, 2014 in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Former President George H.W. Bush and first lady Barbara Bush hold hands and talk before the dedication of the Mathew J. Lanigan bridge that connects Kennebunk and Kennebunkport, Maine on May 19, 2017.

(L-R) Laura Bush, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, and U.S. first lady Melania Trump pose with former U.S. President George H.W. Bush at the funeral of former first lady Barbara Bush in Houston on April 21, 2018.

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LOCOMOTIVE 4141
Following the funeral service, Bush's remains were taken by train some 80 miles (130 km) northwest to his presidential library in College Station, Texas, where he will be buried alongside his wife, Barbara, who died in April, and their daughter Robin, who died of leukemia at age 3 in 1953.
Residents of small towns along the route gathered to wave at the train, a Union Pacific Corp locomotive numbered 4141 and bearing the name "George Bush 41" on the side, as it passed.
Bush, a U.S. Navy aviator who narrowly escaped death when he was shot down by Japanese forces over the Pacific Ocean during World War Two, will be buried with military honors, including a flyover by 21 Navy aircraft.
Bush was president from 1989 to 1993, navigating the collapse of the Soviet Union and expelling former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's forces from oil-rich Kuwait.
He supported the passage of the American with Disabilities Act, a major civil rights law protecting disabled people from discrimination.
A patrician figure who served as vice president to Ronald Reagan, Bush lost re-election to a second term in part for failing to connect with ordinary Americans during an economic recession.
He has also been criticized for supporting tough drug laws that led to the disproportionate incarceration of black people, as well as what activists call an insufficient response to the AIDS epidemic.
But tributes in recent days have focused on the former Republican president as a man of integrity and kindness who represented an earlier era of civility in American politics.